Slow Burn.

Chapter 25.

"Come on, Ace, one more push! You can do it!" Noah reassures me as he holds my hand tightly. Gemma is on the other side of me, standing with my father as she brushes her fingers through my hair, doing her best to calm me down.

"You're doing so great, baby, Jax is going to be so proud of you." she tells me, and I feel myself let out a scream, tears rushing down my face for more reasons than one. I wish he was here, I wish he was the one holding my hand and reassuring me, promising me that it was going to be okay. I continue to sob through the pain and the empty part of my heart that's a void due to Jax's absence.

"I can't do it, I need him here, I need Jax." I sob to my brother, father and Gemma. Wanting nothing more than his arms around me, and his voice reassuring me of the health of our baby. I continue to sob, "I need Jax."

"I know baby, I know, but he's here. I promise he's here. He's here with that baby, he's here with me, with you." Gemma tells me, stroking my one hand with her thumb, "We're so proud of you, Kacey, so, so proud."

"Okay, Kacey, one more. Take a deep breath and push with everything that you have, and we're going to be welcoming this baby any minute."

"Minute!?" I shout, looking around and Noah gives me a serious look.

"Ace, it's a figure of speech!" He shouts at me, "You can't be serious right no- Push!"

I glare over at my brother before mustering all of the strength and courage in my body, doing my best to push as hard as I can. I let out another cry and before I know it, my cry is joined with another, higher pitched voice. I feel my body relax into the bed and everyone begins to smile, small laughs erupt in the delivery room and the doctor grins.

"We're welcoming a baby girl, a baby girl!" She announces and I feel my heart soar out of my chest as the largest smile welcomes itself on my face. The doctor cleans off the baby, and walks over to me, handing my daughter to me with open arms. "Congratulations Kacey, you have a beautiful baby girl."

---

I continue to fold laundry in the laundry room, and Noah is standing closely behind me, his new puppy in his arms as he begins to play with it. "When are you going to see Jax today?" He asks, excited for me to reveal our new baby to Jax. We didn't want to know the gender and decided to keep it as a surprise. I've been on bed-rest for the last week, and just now feel able to go and visit him while bringing the baby and Abel. Jax got news of the arrival of our sweet girl, and he was ecstatic.

"In an hour or so. Can you check on Abel?" I ask my brother as I finish off the laundry, putting it in the bin and pushing it with my feet. Noah looks down at me and chuckles.

"I'll take the laundry, you go check on Abel. You shouldn't be carrying anything heav-" he goes to warn me and I shoot him a stern look before he nods. "You're an independent woman who doesn't need a man. I get it, Jesus." He says as he takes his dog and walks out to the play room, checking on his nephew. I bring the laundry into the bedroom and take it out of the bin, setting it on the bed so I can put it away when I'm home. I hear a cry come from the small crib by my bed and smile, walking over to my baby.

"Hi my sweet girl." I greet her, smiling down at the bundle of joy before picking her up and rocking her. "Are you hungry?" I ask her and she lets out another cry. I chuckle and get ready to breastfeed the baby. I sit on the bed, breastfeeding the baby and I look out the door, seeing if I can spot Noah and Abel. "Noah?" I call out to my brother who pokes his head out of the play room. "Can you get Abel ready to go see Jax? I just need him to have his jacket on and to pack a few snacks."

I hear Noah call out to Abel, and I watch them walk out of the play room and into the kitchen, Noah's dog still in his arms. "Okay buddy, pick the sugariest things."

I gasp as I hear my brother and shake my head, "Noah!" I call out to him, letting him know that I caught him. I finish feeding Sadie and lay her on the bed to quickly change her. I reach for one of her new clothes. I take off her pyjamas, and gently pull on the white t-shirt body suit, buttoning it up at the bottom. I slid on the small, blush pink sweat pants and reach for the zip-up, fluffy pink sweater with cat ears on it. I smile over at the pink beanie and put it gently on her head, "Daddy will love this the most." I tell her, signalling to the SAMCRO Princess beanie. I pick her up in my arms and walk out of the bedroom, down the hall to see Abel all ready to go.

He's dressed in a pair of dark gray sweat pants, a dinosaur t-shirt and a Captain America sweater. "Ready baby?" I ask him and Abel nods, skipping over to me. I kneel down and he presses a kiss on Sadie's cheek before smiling.

"Sissy." He says before looking over to Noah and racing over to him. "Puppy!"

Noah chuckles and nods, "Yeah, buddy. We get to keep him!" He tells Abel and I chuckle, shaking my head. I grab the car seat and bundle Sadie up inside of it, making sure she's buckled in properly. I rush into the kitchen and grab the snacks, stuffing them in my diaper bag before looking back at Noah.

"We'll be gone for a few hours, but you can order pizza for dinner if you want? And if you don't mind taking out the garbage, that would be appreciated." I tell Noah and he nods before walking over to me and kissing my cheek.

"Got it, sis. I'll see you in a bit. Drive safe!" He says before looking down at Sadie and Abel, "I love you buttheads." He says before kissing each of them and walking off to the backyard to let his dog out.

I look over to the two kids and nod, "Let's go see Daddy."

---

"Okay, baby, you need to remember to listen when I say we have to go, or if we need to be quieter. Okay? I know you can do this, we've done it so many times before." I tell Abel as I hold his hand, walking into the visitation area. Abel nods and squeezes my hand, "Daddy will be home soon, so soon." I reassure myself and Abel, doing my best to not cry due to how much I miss and need him.

I see Jax sitting at a table, a black beanie covering his shaved head. He notices Abel and smiles. I watch as the boy runs over to his dad, wrapping his arms around him. Jax picks him up and smiles, kissing the boy. "How're you doing!" He says to his son, happy to see him. I walk over to Jax and notice his smile. "Kacey." He says happily, "How're you doing? How's the baby?" He asks, noticing the carrier. I go to set the car seat up on the table and he takes it from me, moving the guard away and revealing his little girl. "A girl? Oh my god, a girl." He says with tears in his eyes as he unbuckles her and lifts her out of the seat, holding her to his chest. "My girl, my baby girl."

I smile at the sight and watch as Jax holds his newborn daughter with nothing but love, pride and protection. "Ms. Sadie Teller." I tell him proudly, "Our little girl."

Jax looks over to me with tears in his eyes and reaches out to me, pulling me into his side as he cries. "My perfect, beautiful family." He says proudly, "I can't wait to come home. I miss you guys so much." Abel pulls at my cardigan and I look down at him, lifting him up and holding him on my side, brushing a piece of his hair behind his ear.

"We can't wait for you to come home either. We miss you so much." I tell him and he presses a kiss on my head before smiling back at his daughter and then over to Abel. "Noah got a dog." I tell him with a small chuckle.

Jax raises his eyebrow, "What? Since when?"

"A couple of weeks ago. He's acting like it's his own baby. He carries it in his arms everywhere." I tell him and Jax laughs, shaking his head.

"Might be the only baby he ever gets. A man and his fur baby." Jax says with a chuckle before fixing Sadie's beanie. "Samcro's princess." He says with a smile before kissing her once more.

I watch as he interacts with our daughter and I feel my heart grow in size. This is the first time in my life I've felt like I've belonged. My family, our family. My Jax Teller.